Anything that comes between God and us that compromises our walk with him is a god to us. We are saying, “You’re not really enough for this situation, Lord. You are not providing for me or protecting me or fulfilling me in the ways that I need, so I am bringing this other god into my life to close the gap between your inadequacy and my needs.”
– Jani Ortlund in His Loving Law, Our Lasting Legacy
Ouch!
In Isaiah 30, Judah is trusting in Egypt to save them from the Assyrian army. But Egypt “cannot profit them” (v5). Egypt’s help is “worthless and empty” (v7).
Still today, people trust in empty things. Some trust in other gods. Many trust in their wealth, or their success, or their job, or their health, or their friends, or the government. And yet all of these can fail – prove empty like Egypt.
God called Judah, and he calls us, to trust in Him. He is the “LORD God” (v15) – the one true God. He is the “Holy One” (v15) – beyond us and greater – able to help us. He is the “Holy One of Israel” (v15) – he entered into a relationship with Israel. He cared about them and wanted to help them. And he has entered into a relationship with us and wants to help us.
And so he calls us to rest in Him, to be still before Him, and trust Him (v15). And in this trust we find strength in the midst of the trials and struggles of life (v15). We don’t need to freak out, but rest quietly in Him, looking to Him for what we need.
He calls us to wait expectantly for Him (v18). He calls us to cry out to Him with the assurance that he will answer, and that he will be with us (v19-20). He calls us to listen to Him for guidance through life (v21). He calls us to look to Him in all things – to trust Him.
We can trust in empty things or we can trust in our God. Where is your trust today?
To grow in humility, we need to renew our minds with Biblical truth and train ourselves for godliness.
Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. – Acts 17:25 (ESV)
We need to renew our minds by considering our dependence upon God. I am completely dependent upon him for my next breath, my health, and the length of my life. I am completely dependent upon him for success, provision, abilities, and blessings. I cannot exist or accomplish anything on my own. I am completely dependent upon God. This is a truth that humbles us.
So let’s train ourselves in this truth by praying. As we cry out to God for help, we are acknowledging our dependence upon him. We are expressing our need of assistance from the One who is greater and higher than we are. This is a practice that can humble us.
Pray for God’s help and consider our dependence upon God – and so grow in humility.
Also in this Series
Yesterday we asked the question: where is your heart? Today we want to consider how we can stir up our heart for God. In Isaiah 29, God not only confronts the people with their heartless worship (v13), he goes on to tell them that he is going to a do a great wonder that will baffle the wisdom of men (v14). What is this great wonder? Isaiah never tells us. But Paul does.
In I Corinthians 1:18-19, Paul quotes this verse in reference to the cross. The cross is the great wonder that God would do that would baffle the wisdom of men. At the cross, God in the flesh dies for sinful humanity. At the cross, God’s mercy and judgment meet. At the cross, God shows the full extent of his love for us. And as we meditate on the cross, on his great love for us, our hearts are stirred up to love him in response. As we humbly kneel before the cross we “obtain fresh joy in the Lord” (Isaiah 29:19).
Verse 19 goes on to say that we will “exult in the Holy One of Israel.” He is holy, beyond us, glorious. As we meditate on his greatness, our fear of God transcends the mere command of men. Our fear of God becomes real; our worship becomes real. Our hearts are stirred up by his glory.
So let us draw near to God. Let us meditate on the cross and on his glory, and so stir up our hearts to beat for him.
And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men….
– Isaiah 29:13 (ESV)
We see here a spiritual deadness. Judah was just going through the religious motions. They were just following the religious traditions. And the problem was not that the traditions were dead. The problem was them. The problem was their hearts.
Our church celebrates the Lord’s Supper once a month. We have a Worship Service every Sunday at 11 a.m. Those are traditions. The issue is not the traditions, but the heart of the people as they come.
So where is your heart? Why do you gather with your church? Why do you minister? Is it just a habit (albeit a good one)? Is it just a tradition (again a good one)? Are you just going through the religious motions? Or do you gather with your church and serve others out of heart for God? Does your heart beat to worship God and serve others for Him?
Where is your heart?
Isaiah 28 raises an important question: What will we build our lives on? Will we build our lives on the shifting sands of self and the ways of our world, or on the sure foundation of God? He is our sure foundation in at least four ways:
He is our crown of glory (v1-6). The Northern Kingdom was building their lives on the glory of man. They were living for themselves, for pleasure, for beauty, for riches. Sounds much like today. But all those things will be cast down, trampled on, swallowed up. In contrast, the remnant will find the Lord of Hosts to be their crown of glory. God is truly glorious, and his glory will never fade away. And he makes us glorious as we become his people and build our lives on Him. So will you seek glory in yourself and the world or in our glorious God? He is our sure foundation. So seek him.
He is our rest for the weary (v7-13). God offered rest to Judah, but they would not listen. They sought their rest in drinking. And so it is today. Many seek their rest in alcohol, food, pleasure, entertainment, drugs, any place but God. But these are only distractions – they can’t provide true rest for the weary. So come to the Lord, and he will provide rest for your soul. He is a rest from the futile chasing after the things of the world because he is our glory, our satisfaction. He is a rest in the midst of the fears and trials of life because he is bigger and stronger. What is your fear? What trials are you facing? He invites you to rest in Him. He is our sure foundation. So rest in Him.
He is our stone of security (v14-22). Judah sought security from Assyria through an alliance with Egypt. But it was a covenant of death, a refuge of lies. Egypt was a bed too small to rest in, a blanket too small to comfort. Egypt could not provide security against Assyria. Still today people seek security in all the wrong places. They look for security in their wealth, their success, their job, their friends, their government. But like Egypt, all of these things can fail. Only God is big enough, powerful enough, to provide true security. Where Egypt failed, God succeeded. He is the one we should put our faith in. He is our sure foundation. So trust in Him.
Finally, he is our source of wisdom (v23-29). The farmer knows how to plow, sow, and harvest because God gives him wisdom. The Lord is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. And so we ought to listen to Him. But many other voices are chattering in our culture calling us to reject God, do our own thing, and find wisdom in ourselves. And many people follow these other voices to their own destruction. But God is the source of wisdom. He is our sure foundation. So listen to him.
God is our sure foundation so look to Him.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
– Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV)
Love God and love people. This is the sum of the Old Testament. This is what God expects of us, what he calls us to do. This is what life is all about. But it is so easy to get distracted, and we need to regularly refocus.
Life is not about amassing wealth. It is not about consuming. It is not about power or control. It is not about fame or popularity. It is not about comfort or ease. It is not about pleasure. It is not about defining ourselves, but rather denying ourselves to love God and people.
Life is not even about the myriad of things we do on any given day. Not that those things are necessarily wrong, but they are only the settings in which we are to love. They are the contexts of love. In our families and friendships, at our job or school, in our recreation or sports – these are all contexts for us to express our love for God and our love for people. Love is central.
And so we need to regularly refocus. We need to ask questions: How can I show love to God today in my family, my job, my school, my play, my church? How can I show love today to my spouse, my children, my co-workers, my classmates, my neighbors?
And we need to constantly be looking for opportunities to love throughout the day – in our daily routines and in the interruptions to our routines.
We need to refocus on what is really important: loving God and loving people. May God help us to grow in this love this week.
Back in July, I wrote a post on growing in humility. In it, I looked at two general principles for growing in humility: renewing our minds with Biblical truth and training ourselves for godliness. My plan was to then begin a weekly look at some specific applications of those two principles. Needless to say, between a busy July and my blogging break in August, I never got back to it. So now finally, here we go:
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
– Psalm 8:1, 3-4 (ESV)
To grow in humility, we need to consider our smallness before God. He is big, majestic, full of glory. We are small even in comparison to the heavens, let alone God. He is the Creator; we are the creatures. There are billions of people scattered around the world – and God made every one. He is big. We are small. This is a truth that humbles us.
So let’s train ourselves in this truth by going outside. Look at the stars. Watch a sunset. Sit on the beach and watch the crashing waves. Observe creation and wonder at our Creator. Many of us spend so much time indoors where everything is made by people, and arranged around us. No wonder we struggle with pride. But go outside where everything is made and arranged by God for his glory, and we’ll see how small we really are. This is a practice that can humble us.
Go outside and consider our smallness before God – and so grow in humility.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
– John 1:14 (ESV)
Jesus was full of grace and truth, but we tend to lean in one direction or another.
We may lean toward a graceless truth: We look with disgust at sinners. We are quick to condemn someone who fails to live up to the truth – we become the judge, jury, and executioner. Somehow we lose sight of our own failure to live out the truth, our own need of grace.
Or we may lean toward a truthless grace. We treat sin as if it were no big deal. We are quick to excuse sin. It doesn’t matter what anyone does. We easily compromise truth in the name of freedom. Somehow we lose sight of God’s commands, and his expectation of obedience.
But Jesus was full of grace and truth. He confronts our graceless truth and our truthless grace. He graciously reaches out to sinners with forgiveness, even as he calls them to live out the truth.
The world doesn’t need our self-righteous condemnation nor our irrelevant affirmation.
The world needs grace and truth. The world needs Jesus. Just like us.
The Men’s Discipleship Group at my church went through R. Kent Hughes book, Disciplines of a Godly Man this past year. It was a good study. One discipline Hughes focused on was giving. He calls for a disciplined understanding of giving and a disciplined act of giving.
Disciplined Understanding of Giving
Disciplined Act of Giving
Brian J. Mikul 